We interviewed Max Detrano between February 20th and February 27th, 2014. R&R: We’re interested in the techniques and processes of writing. So let’s start there. First let me say, thank you for including me in this interview process. I am flattered and grateful, though unsure that I have much to contribute. Most of all I want to thank you, Bob and Jack, for all the hours, days, months and years you have devoted to mentoring writers, creating a scheduled place, a sacred space for the madness that we know as timed writing here in Seattle. If it were not for the two of you, I don’t think that would have happened. R&R: You practice timed writing. What is timed writing? I sit down at a crowded table at Louisa’s Cafe. The timer is set. At two-thirty all heads bow. I write without looking up till the buzzer sounds. I write fast. It’s best done with other people, in a noisy place full of distractions, because that’s what puts me in the zone. Because I can’t cheat. I can’t get up and make a sandwich like I would at home. Once done, I have something. Not always something good, but something. Once upon a time an aspiring poet asked William Stafford if it was true that he wrote a poem everyday before breakfast. He nodded that, Yes, it is true....

This essay first appeared on Andrea Buginsky’s andisrealm as part of the blog tour organized by Virginia Grenier of World of Ink to promote Gabriela and The Widow. The link to the original posting is this url: Objects and Sentiment in Gabriela and The Widow Objects in Gabriela and The Widow To write Gabriela and The Widow I started with the idea that one character, Gabriela, was thin, while the other, The Widow, was thick. What I would like to lay out is a study of the way I use “objects” in this novel to build both emotional attachments between characters and to push the story line along to its conclusion. This is a preliminary working of the topic which developed more in the course of writing the novel. By focusing on the objects in a story and their relationship to character, you can go deeper into the emotional reality associated with objects. In this, fictional characters share an aspect of the sentimental life of people and that helps to make them whole. Step One: Emotional Attachment to objects. The main object in Gabriela and The Widow is the List that Gabriela has to keep for La Viuda. Boxes: carved, painted, decorated, engraved, different kinds of wood, metal. Each box comes and goes in the story: some days, La Viuda wants to examine the painted box with photos, other...